This week on the Building Interest Podcast, Leader Bank's President Jay Tuli returns to reflect on this past year. We dig into the challenges of a changing market, pushing your potential as a leader during turbulent times and celebrating the successes that aren't necessarily reflected in statistics and metrics. 

Listen on Spotify     Listen on Apple

Episode Transcript

Greg Farber:
Welcome to season three of the Building Interest Podcast presented by Leader Bank. In our last season, we explored what it means to be a leader through conversations with leaders from within the communities we serve, as well as from across the world of banking and technology. Each conversation focused on our guests personal leadership journey, provided insights on what it means to be a good leader. In our last episode, we were joined by Vitaliy Schaffer, Director of Startup Technology and Venture Capital Banking here at Leader and Aaron Beydoun who holds several leadership positions within Greater Boston's innovation and technology landscape to understand their entrepreneurial journeys and the challenges they've overcome as leaders within their segments. Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Leader Bank's, President Jay Tuli to reflect on the past year in banking and finance, understand how we navigated change during a volatile year, and his own plans for 2024. Welcome back, Jay.

Jay Tuli:
Happy New Year.

Greg Farber:
Happy New Year.

Jay Tuli:
Good to be back.

Greg Farber:
Indeed. Yeah, have a good time over the over the holidays?

Jay Tuli:
We were traveling out of the country for a little bit. And it was great. It was great, busy. But I'm actually excited to be back into the routine of things at work.

Greg Farber: 
Yeah, it's good to get away and good to come back. So Well, let's talk about what you're coming back to right. So well, last year was obviously a bit rocky in the banking world. We did touch a little bit on this in some of our episodes. We talked with CFO Brian Taylor about navigating the current banking environment a couple episodes back. We obviously saw some some changes in the bank world with some failures earlier in the year. How do you as a leader approach sort of those challenges where you're the figurehead of Leader Bank? And we have these unexpected events that impact the financial industry? And then how do you approach leading through those times?

Jay Tuli:
Yeah, last year was like a really interesting year. I mean, I don't need to go through again, like, all the things that happened in the banking crisis, but it was certainly there were many moments where it was just scary. And you know, I think that's probably the word I would use. When, you know, the bank opened after SVB... The SVB failure, you know, I think I was scared. I think a lot of banking execs were because we didn't know how clients were going to react, did everyone want to come and pull their money? Were they going to be nervous. And so that unknown was kind of like the wildcard. And I was saying this to the team, I think last year was such a hard year in many ways. For banks, because we all had, in addition to the failure of several banks, we all saw not all but many banks, have their margin squeezed, deposits left the system, investments lost value, all this type of stuff. But the same time, it was such a good year, as far as doing the things you know, you need to do, but you just don't get around to like creating the good corporate habits, cleaning up processes, you know, reengineering certain tasks. And really focusing on the few things that matter versus doing like so many things. From that perspective, I think 2023 was such a productive year. And to your question about, like, how do you navigate that? You know, I think it's, a lot of it is like going through, okay, what's the worst thing that can happen? Because because in the in the outset, there's so much to think about, there's so much to worry about, at any one point in time. And then sometimes you have to take a step back and say, okay, like, what really matters? What's the worst thing that can happen? And what are the options available to us? Should those things happen?

Greg Farber:
Well, you mentioned clients reacting, and clients potentially pulling their money, right, which makes you afraid as a leader in the Bank. Is there are there things that we can proactively do to reassure that? Or is it really just you have to let the wild card be the wild card? And then as you said, focus on perhaps other initiatives, so we come out stronger, regardless of what the client does?

Jay Tuli:
Yeah, there's, there's a lot of things we can do. And, you know, some of the things we did during the times we started communicating a lot. We started communicating a lot to our clients directly. But actually, one one thing we did a lot of is we communicated a lot to our team. Because the team at the end of the day is the one talking to the clients, right? And the more they know, the better they can communicate it. And in fact, Like, the more they know about Why, what happened, the way it happened, and how we're positioned in the specifics, the more confidence they can instill in the client. And so it wasn't, it wasn't only just communication, a lot of it was education, too, because some of these are like, kind of esoteric, like investment in balance sheet concepts, that, you know, the average person wouldn't know if they're not in banking. So we had to like, we had to both explain what's going on macro, why that happened, what that means for Leader, why we feel we're we're in a good position, why their money safe. So all of those things. So we did a lot of communicating, I think that really helped, actually. And we sort of took the approach that like, if a client needs us to hop on a zoom, and talk to them, let's do it. You know, let's just over communicate. And I think that really helped.

Greg Farber: 
Well, that was kind of going to be my next question. You know, we tout modern banking and personal touch. And obviously, the personal touch is key and what you just said, really communicating through our teams to our clients, what's happening and what's going on. But yeah, leveraging technology in that, and you mentioned, zoom, any other kind of street strategies, or tech that really helped mitigate maybe customer fears or things on our end?

Jay Tuli:
Yeah, I think like, you know, the communications a lot easier. Obviously, nowadays, zoom, like you said, putting things on the website, texting, you know, emailing, we did all of these different types of things. That is obviously a lot easier than if your major form of communication is for the client to walk into a branch. And so, yeah, so that, that certainly, that certainly helps.

Greg Farber:
So we talk a lot about innovation, right? And the definition of innovation is, is utilizing a new idea or a new method. Does that mean we're effectively trying to change in a new or new better way? How people bank? I mean, banking itself is is a financial transaction money goes in money goes out? Are we really is that what we're doing? We're changing how people bank so how their relationship with their bank functions are?

Jay Tuli:
Yes. To your point on that question. You know, I think we're, we're, we're just trying to, in whatever ways we can, and we're able to continue to make banking, more convenient and a better experience for the clients. Sometimes that means adding more tech, sometimes I think that means taking away tech.

Greg Farber:
Interesting.

Jay Tuli:
You know...

Greg Farber:
What's an example of that?

Jay Tuli:
Well, an example of that is like, you know, in times of uncertainty, you know, you could say, Yeah, let's just, let's just, let's just send lots of emails, let's just put up pop up banners on the mobile banking app, explaining everything's okay. But that's a lot of tech, right. But there's certain times where the best thing is to call the client, like, just pick up the phone and talk to them, like, just get on a Zoom. Zoom is Tech, I guess, but it's but point is just to communicate, or if they, if you can meet them in person meet them. We did a lot of that, right? So there are examples where tech is great. But when it comes to trust, sometimes sometimes you just need to skip all that and just get like back to basics. And I think 2023 was like a reset year in many ways. Where I feel like in financial services, the reset button was pressed. And it's like, let's get back to basics of what matters, like safety, and soundness, and relationships. And tech can be helpful sometimes, sometimes tech can get in the way. But those are the things that mattered. And that was what we really tried to focus on.

Greg Farber:
No, I do. I do hear that I you know, I have friends that complain about, you know, the banking experience they have wherever they're at. And I kind of laugh and I go, Well, why don't you bank at a at a community bank? And they're like, Oh, well, they can't do this, that and I'm like, yeah, they can. And I think that that's exactly that when you have that relationship, and you can establish that we can do all those things. But we can also take care of people directly. That's huge. So I love your answer there. I want to throw out a couple of sort of factoids or achievements that we have. And these are from our own website, little news blurbs that we threw out throughout the year in 2023. Again, kind of to recap some awesome things that we did. Then I want to get your take on a little twist there. Once again, we were named a top place to work by the Boston Globe. We've done this a couple of times. This is a really amazing achievement. We launched the venture capital private equity and technology banking group that I mentioned that we had done a podcast episode with previously, we took these tough times that we just talked about, we remained well capitalized, and we kept our clients stable and safe and did not lose anybody's money. We expanded our markets in a down year and open to new full service Residential Lending offices in Cape Cod and in Holden, there's a lot to talk about that we achieved in 2023. My question to you is, is there an achievement from 2023? That's doesn't make the statistics that doesn't make the press release. That's something that's somehow against all odds, the one thing that you're really proud of that we did, that doesn't show up in the news blurbs on the website?

Jay Tuli:
That's a really good question. In a time like that, I think it would have been, like last year, very easy to get distracted. From the client, meaning, you know, there's so much stuff going on, and, and you're running around, like trying to fix things and whatever. And I think the I think last year, we did an exceptional job. With upping our client service, I don't even think it was like the same as your before, I think it went, I think we we brought it up a notch. And I'm super proud of that. Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters is like how, how focused can we be on the client and delivering what they need to them. And to add to that, I think last year, the other bucket though related, that I'm really proud of is I feel like we added a lot of new muscle to what we're capable of doing. So what I mean by that is like we added like new risk management, muscle, new marketing, new tech, muscle pricing, different capabilities and things we can do for the future, that we kind of built last year that we never had before. That just going to make us a better organization. And I think a lot of those things kind of reinforce short of allowing the client to stay at the center. But what what you're seeing and all those things you mentioned, those are all great achievements. And, and I'm really pleased that they happened last year, I feel that they are a byproduct of being focused on the client, and then these other things kind of like came around it.

Greg Farber:
No, that's a great way to put it. Because we know that we want to be client focused. And that's never going to be a press release. Oh, Leader Bank is client focused, we're never going to put that out in the news. But like you said, all these other these achievements happen? Because we have that underneath. I think that's that's a fantastic answer, and wasn't sure where you were gonna go. I knew you'd have something that you'd come up with. But that was really, that was really good answer. I love that. As we're kind of going off of off the sort of official 2023 topic a little bit, then maybe let's talk a little bit more personally. What drives you? What motivates you, as a leader personally, when you see all this adversity rather than just throwing in the towel? Or like you said, maybe business? As usual, we focus on all the problems? What makes you wake up and go, today, I'm gonna go achieve something? Or is that just innate?

Jay Tuli:
No, no, I don't know, I think I would say a couple things like one. When we think about how many people we are working with helping every day, it's awesome. It's, we're so fortunate to, to be able to help so many, like, new people buy homes every day, so many businesses like you know, make their payroll or, or buy a property or machine or like whatever it is you're doing that's vital to their business, which then employs people. So I think the backwards reflection for me is really motivating. And I think one thing is like, you know, we're a new bank. So like, a lot of us have been here, you know, 10 plus years, 20 years, you know, since the Bank was founded, and whenever I read, I read a few books last year that were really talking about, like the power of reflection. And I find that really motivated because when you look back and you see the progress that's made, and you think through all the people that are benefiting from this journey, it's incredibly motivating. It's not just the clients either it's all the team members. And when we when we kind of think about how focused we are on being the being helpful to the client, and you hear their feedback like wow, that was amazing. I could have not done this without you. I've never had an experience like this incredible, incredibly motivating, you know, the other the other like thing from last year. For me that's kind of like going going into 2024 Is this kind of concept about like, how much we can push ourselves, you know, like you think you're capable of like only x. And then you're thrown into like, a challenge, like last year. And you're like, Oh, wow. Like, I'm capable of a lot more.

Greg Farber:
I feel like this is a recurring theme for us. We had COVID respond to that, and PPP loans. And we've got thrown into that and right.

Jay Tuli:
Yeah, you're right. And then when you come out of that, you're like, wow, what else are we capable of? Personally, professionally? And so that's something that I'm curious about. And I think like this whole, this whole notion of like, you know, can we go deeper? Can we get more? Can we can we go deeper, as far as like, the impact, we're providing to clients, to to team members, for me individually. So it was a great year of reflection 2023, it was a really hard year. And like, that's why at the same time, it's really great here for reflection and learning.

Greg Farber: 
I think that's really powerful. This idea that, even if we're perhaps struggling a little bit, as an industry, not necessarily as a company individually, but as an industry as a whole, to go back and look and say, Hey, but we still helped all these people. I love that that's a great approach. I want to go back for a second. You mentioned reading some books, any particular place that you go to find what what's the next great inspirational read, like I often want to read cool inspirational books, and I don't even really know where to start. Where do you go to find the next great read that motivates you?

Jay Tuli:
I, you know, I don't know just like random, random things that are suggested by friends right hear on podcasts. I'm really into one podcast right now, which is called The Founders Podcast.

Greg Farber:
Yep.

Jay Tuli:
It's by David Senra. And he he basically does a podcast on a person each episode. And it's like all the greats, all the great entrepreneurs all the great, you know, even athletes even going back decades ago, and and you kind of really go deep on a person and their journey. And so like, I've picked up a lot of interesting books to read from that or learnings. But but you know, yeah, I, I don't know if I have one place, Greg. And for me last year was all about, okay, I need to stay positive. And so yeah, like, it's, it's one more thing on on the motivating piece of it. I think one other thing is like, as an industry, we're all going through it together. And I think just reminding ourselves, like, when you're in it with a lot of other people or organizations, like, there's a community to that as well. And that's calming. And you kind of want to like get out of it together, you know. And so I think that's really important. Like, you know, this concept of like, no matter how, what you're feeling, or how hard it is for you, others are in the same boat. You're not alone. Right. So I would talk to a lot of other bankers and a lot of other people I knew in different organizations, not even in banking, outside of banking, and, like, you know, when when the Feds raising rates, five points in like a year, everyone's gonna feel it, there's nobody that's not going to feel that right? You could be in manufacturing, you're gonna feel you're gonna be a different country gonna feel it, so...

Greg Farber:
Everybody's gonna feel it. And even though technically, we're all competitors, ultimately, we wouldn't exist. Without that competition, we sort of all need each other to exist and provide a competitive service.

Jay Tuli:
Yeah, that's true.

Greg Farber: 
You mentioned earlier sort of pushing beyond and maybe discovering new things that that you didn't know you were capable of? Did you have any personal milestones or achievements in the last year that you set out a goal that you maybe you didn't think you could get to and, and broke through? Or maybe something you want to do for 2024?

Jay Tuli:
Yeah, I mean, for, for 2024 Yeah, I'm definitely like on this theme of like, okay, I want to, I want to be better personally, and professionally want to be better every day. So what does that mean? And I've found out for myself, that I need to keep, I need to wake up early. Like, that's just like a fact for me. Like, if I wake up early, I generally will have a good day. So then it's like, okay, how can I keep waking up early? What else can I do that, that if I if I push myself it will have multiple benefits. So obviously exercise is one thing that's important to me and I'm Trying to find a format to sort of upped the ante this year. So I signed up for this, like, crazy hike in Sun Valley in June. So I'm kind of training for that right now. That's given me some focus for my sort of like exercise routine. I think, I think, professionally to like, really thinking about how we can push the organization in ways that might even seem unreasonable to others. But for us, they would quote unquote, like widen our moat, you know, it would, it would provide a competitive advantage. And I go back to client service. You know, I keep going back to that, because I think that is at the root for us. And it's kind of like, what, what would be an unreasonable thing we could put as a standard for Leader Bank, that others would, it would be difficult for them to replicate.

Greg Farber:
It's only unreasonable because no one's doing it.

Jay Tuli:
Right.

Greg Farber:
Not because no one can do it.

Jay Tuli:
Right, exactly.

Greg Farber: 
Is that what I'm hearing you say?

Jay Tuli:
Exactly, exactly.

Greg Farber:
That's interesting. I mean, I have this this question, I keep asking myself, and you've kind of already answered it here, this question of what makes you better. And you started by having identify that getting up early, makes you better? And it's the little decisions like that. It might not be what made you better was going to a particular class or starting a particular product or anything like that. What makes you better might be just that one little personal moment. Yeah. And then from that everything trickles out.

Jay Tuli:
Yeah. I mean, just to connect a couple of the questions you've asked now, coming full circle, like, you know, one unreasonable thing that I don't think is unreasonable, but you know, is alright, Ken, can we answer the phone when someone calls within 30 seconds or less and wait time? And, and then connecting to the low tech component of that, like, without a voice prompt, without a touched, just pick up the phone when they call? You know, and that's what we strive to do.

Greg Farber: 
And that's so huge, because how often do you pick up the phone and you end up in an endless call tree, and you keep yelling operator into the phone louder and louder as if the computer cares that you're yelling, and you never end up getting to the representative.

Jay Tuli:
And personally, I think I think that's like, that would be a great goal for all community banks to rally around. Because you know, at the end of the day, as a community bank, we're smaller. So all we really have is, like, we have to out compete on service. You know, and so if we're, if we're not, then then then it's kind of harder to compete against the bigger banks, in many ways, in certain aspects of banking, but we should have the service nailed down, we should be raising a higher bar on that. And so I think that's one of the things we're striving to do. And a lot of community banks are, you know, trying to push the envelope on services as well.

Greg Farber:
Definitely. And I think that it's clear that those complaints of companies that aren't meeting those kind of goals, definitely shines through a lot more. I mean, not the single amount, but in the larger companies where it is a more technological call tree type organization. And, and you can't always get right through and like you said earlier, calling our clients directly and having that Zoom chat and talking to them about where where Leader Banks at and where the client is at. These are huge moments for for them to feel that trust and where we can go beyond.

Jay Tuli:
Absolutely.

Greg Farber:
So I want you to imagine a world where banking doesn't exist. There is no such thing as banking. Now, what does Jay Tuli look like, If he's not running a bank? Would we see Jay Tuli the turnip farmer would we see Jay Tuli the professional basketball player like what is an alternate universe look like? Where your same skills, your same drive. Your entrepreneurial spirit is all there. But you don't have a bank to workout. What do you do? Is there do you ever sit at home and go man in this other universe, I could have grown up to become this.

Jay Tuli:
I wish I was good enough to be like a basketball player.

Greg Farber: 
Really? I just threw that in there randomly.

Jay Tuli:
I wish, no no. Oh, I thought you... No, I wish I was like, you know, taller, faster, all that stuff. Because I think and I am playing a lot more basketball now. With with friends and, and I love it. I'm not that great, but I love it. And I wish I was better at it because I just think there's so many things in it like, and this just goes with all like team sports, but like there's strategy, there's work ethic. There's team play, there's, you know, cabinets are important, like all of these things, you know, which is kind of like, I feel like a lot of them are also relevant to company building as well. But yeah, I just think that would have been so fun. But maybe in another universe.

Greg Farber:
No and that's exactly kind of why I do these kinds of thought exercises. Because I think the same thing like all of the same skills that make us good at what we are today could potentially be the same skills that make you good somewhere else. And like you mentioned about The Founders podcast, just because you're in a different industry doesn't mean that you don't have the same sort of ultimate drive and skills. And like you said, you have to be savvy, you have to understand teamwork, you have to collaborate. But you also have to be strong and driven individually. And and you see that in the greats, whether they're turnip farmers or basketball players. But but no turnip farming for you?

Jay Tuli:
No turnips.

Greg Farber:
That was too random?

Jay Tuli:
No, I don't have the patience.

Greg Farber:
Any other thoughts you want to throw out for us for for last year recap or looking forward

Jay Tuli:
to I would say like I've never been, I think I, I feel like I say this every year.

Greg Farber:
We can always check we did have you a year ago.

Jay Tuli:
But I've never been more excited for community banking. You know, I just I just think like, the, the need for it is so strong. And yet, the number of community banks continues to decline. And if you see what's happening in the way organizations and people bank is it's getting more and more specific. Like if you're a law office, you bank very differently than if you are a doctor's office, which banks very differently than from a convenience store. So there's all these like very specific banking needs. So in a way, like there should almost be more community banks, but there's less. And so I just, I feel there's such an opportunity for smaller banks like us to come into a market really do a great job with clients up the ante on client service. And even with the tech, what's interesting about it is every year the tech becomes more and more available and more and more cheaper to the masses. Like it starts off unique and very expensive. But every year, it just becomes easier and easier and easier. Right, like so. I think it's a wonderful thing. I'm excited about us. And I would say like the other thing about leader bank that I'm really proud of just to add to your question before, like what doesn't make the headlines, I would say the composition of our team and like the talent we are able to recruit nowadays, is really where me like, very exciting and motivating. It's not it's not just the new talent, either existing talent, saying, Okay, I'm going to learn this new skill. I'm going to I note that this is a weakness of mine, I'm going to work on it and make it better. Like I just feel like we are constantly raising the bar on our on our talent pool. And we're able to do more and more as a result.

Greg Farber:
Absolutely, I think it's very well said, speaking of our talent pool, I think I want to take this opportunity to thank the Sydney Clapp and Ryan McNulty in the background here, patiently listening to our conversation and they're going to edit this all down and make a wonderful product. That's that's ultimately going to be what our listeners hear. And we wouldn't have this podcast if it were not for them. So what a shout that out, just as you're mentioning our wonderful team. Thank you guys for that. That's really all I have, Jay, if any other thoughts or questions you have and then let's let's jump into 2024.

Jay Tuli:
Thank you. Thanks, Sydney. Ryan, Greg, good job, ready for next year.

Greg Farber:  
For more information on today's subject, visit leaderbank.com. In addition to past episodes, you can also find our corresponding blog entries for more insights. This podcast is a production of Leader Bank, N.A., equal housing lender. Member FDIC. NMLS number 449250.